The Oakland Raiders were worse than anyone could have imagined in their home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. All optimism was dashed as the Raiders were beaten in every aspect of the game. There was no pass rush, poor play at quarterback, penalties and a pretty stupid injury. The two guys who were supposed to lead this team into a new era, Derek Carr and Khalil Mack, did almost nothing and no one else stepped up to make plays either.
The Raiders never had a chance, starting the game with a three-and-out followed by the Bengals marching down the field and scoring a touchdown with ease. But despite the fact that almost nothing went right for the Raiders, they were only trailing by 10 points with a little over five minutes left in the first half.
That’s when things became very Raider-esque.
By halftime, the Raiders were trailing 24-0 and their starting quarterback was out because he thought it was a good idea to stiff-arm a defender with his throwing hand (pictured above, courtesy of @BSO). Carr went to the locker room and after his status was listed as questionable there were no further updates, just Matt McGloin out there living the dream. Unfortunately, that dream involved a deep interception soon after he entered the game.
Trailing 33-0 in the fourth quarter, the Raiders finally crossed midfield and scored a couple of garbage time touchdowns. It was a minor consolation but the last time the Raiders were shut out in the first game of the season was when Art Shell was in his second stint with the team. For those who do not remember, that was the infamous “Bed and Breakfast Offense” so dubbed because the offensive coordinator, Tom Walsh, was running a bed and breakfast in the years before coming back to coaching.
This was a bad team in 2014 and you knew there was a lot of work that had to be done before they could compete, but most thought they would at least be respectable this season. Instead, with only one game in the books, Raiders fans are staring another long and painful season square in the eyes.
